Helpful Information for Small Group Leaders
Click a link below to find out more:
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Recommended Reading
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How to choose a good Bible study
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Tips on building a sense of family in your group
Small Group Sessions: Upcoming Dates
Spring 2010 Session
The Spring Session is from April 11 – June 19 (10 weeks)
Summer Break
Groups will be on a summer break from June 20 - September 11
New Leader Training
The next New Leader Training will be Saturday, August 21, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm. Contact us for more details:
Fall 2010 Session
The Fall Small Group Session runs from September 12 - December 11. Check the worship folder or the front page (www.efcc.org) for more details once we get into August.
Recent Reading Recommendations
April 2, 2010: Here is a good listing of what's hot for small group curriculum right now.
An On-Going, Very Influential DVD-Based Study
“The Truth Project” from Focus on the Family. Focus requires trained facilitators to lead this study. We have those facilitators ready to go. Please contact John Selck at if you’d like to learn more about how EFCC can send a person to come in and lead the DVD and discussion. This is proving to be a very influential and transformative study for the EFCC small groups who go through it.
WHAT IF YOU WANT TO DO A BOOK OF THE BIBLE STUDY?
I always recommend the resources from NavPress for inductive, verse-by-verse Bible Studies. http://www.navpress.com/catalog/68/Books-of-the-Bible-Bible-Studies.
Top DVD-Based Curriculum (According to Small Group Trader.Com)
You can track down descriptions, watch clips and purchase at www.smallgrouptrader.com.
"WHAT'S HOT"
Author Title
Francis Chan Crazy Love.
Erwin McManus Uprising
Max Lucado Fearless
Tim Keller Prodigal God
“BEST STUDIES FOR NEW GROUPS”
Alan Danielson What If…
Mark Batterson Facing the Unknown
“BEST MARRIAGE STUDIES”
Tommy Nelson Song of Solomon
Chip Ingram and Dave Ramsey Marriage: Built to Last
“STUDIES STILL GOING STRONG”
Andy Stanley Twisting the Truth
John Ortberg When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box
Top Studies from Zondervan
You can track these down at www.zondervan.com.
Author Title
Tim Keller The Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything
John Ortberg The Me I Want to Be
Bill Hybels Just Walk Across the Room
Jim Cymbala When God’s People Pray
Ray VanderLaan Faith Lessons #9 (Fire on the Mountain) and #10 (With All Your Heart).
January 14, 2010: Looking for some good options for what to study in 2010? Here is a link to the top 10 small group studies that were downloaded in 2009 from small groups dot com. http://www.smallgroups.com/articles/2010/thetop10biblestudiesof2009.html?tCode=F21CA9D41A&dCode=E54591F76F&start=1
October 21, 2009: This article gives a handful of helpful tips on how to help newcomers to your group feel welcome and likely to come back. http://www.smallgroups.com/articles/2009/whenyouhaveopendoor.html?tCode=F21CA9D41A&dCode=E54591F76F
September 11, 2009: This article presents suggested solutions for answering the question, "What's our group going to study next?" http://www.smallgroups.com/articles/2009/whatshouldourgroupstudy.html?tCode=F21CA9D41A&dCode=E54591F76F&start=1
August 6, 2009: This article talks about "Six Small Group Killers" and how we can work to avoid them. Please contact us and we'll send it to you. smallgroups at efcc dot org.
How to Choose a Good Small Group Study
Choosing the right Bible study for your group to use can be a challenge, to say the least. Once you decide the topic you'll study, then comes the task of finding a resource. Below are some thoughts that will hopefully help you as you seek to lead your group to the best resource possible for it.*
(1) You know your group better than anyone else, so when choosing study material try to match where the people in your group are, and what they hope to get out of the group, with the materials that you survey.
Do people have time to prepare? Do they want to prepare? If they are unable to prepare one week, is the study flexible enough that they can still participate?
(2) Try to survey two or three different study books on the topic or book of the Bible you plan to study. Compare and contrast these books with what you know about your group. Make mental notes about which would be best for you. (Note: on many web sites today you can read the table of contents and first chapter of the study you are thinking of purchasing.)
(3) When surveying the different study guide options, look to see if the study encourages communication. Will it cause your group to discuss and participate, or are the questions mostly of the "Yes/No" variety?
(4) Look to see if the questions are provocative and encourage discussion of real-life situations and scenarios, or if they mostly call for people to offer simple facts and opinions.
(5) Finally, if you can, check to see if the leader's notes (if there are leader notes) empower you to lead and support discussion.
(6) Generally, the publishers with whom we feel the most comfortable are Navpress, Intervarsity Press and Zondervan.
(7) The best web site to use for finding study materials is Bible Study Resources on CBD.
(8) Some groups have found value in doing DVD-driven curriculum. If this is something your group would choose to explore, click here to visit that section of CBD's web site.
(9) Here is a new website we've discovered that offers top of the line DVDs and materials for study - Small Group Trader.
*At Emmanuel Faith, one option you have is to use the pre-printed sermon outline and weekly Applying God's Principles questions and study along with the Senior Pastor's current series. Many groups choose this option. See the Sermon Messages page each week for the files.
47 Ideas on How to Build a Sense of Family in Your Group
1. Record prayer requests/e-mail them out. Helps keep people in the loop.
2. Start with socializing. Assign a time keeper.
3. Each person picks a topic in the summer and leads a discussion on it -- get to know one another through their interests.
4. Don't force it.
5. Plan two get-togethers a year -- Christmas and summer socials.
6. Plan periodic non-meeting nights -- socials.
7. Be sensitive to the spirit re: people's needs. More on people, less on program.
8. Celebrate birthdays at the close of the meeting.
9. Delegate some/all responsibility.
10. Be affirming.
11. Grace and truth.
12. Emphasis on care.
13. Leaders serve dinner to group members.
14. Be sure to have a prayer time.
15. Keep a running prayer list. Remove answered prayers.
16. Have a significant sharing time.
17. Bring couples in/break couples up for socials.
18. Consider changing schedule (if every week) so everyone can attend.
19. Have men and women occasionally meet separately for discussion.
20. Service projects, conferences.
21. Go to movies together (examples: The Passion, End of the Spear, Narnia, etc.)
22. We are about each other as a group so, "What do we need to do?"
23. Share decision making for "What to study?"
24. Call people in group during the week.
25. Have accountability partners.
26. Do some Sat. a.m. Starbucks trips.
27. Eating together regularly. Emphasize socializing.
28. Be a flexible leader.
29. Involve the group -- "What do you want to do?"
30. Prayer changes things and lets you know what it is going on in their lives. Ask God to show you how to love others in your group. Use testimony (your own) to tell your story. Communicate by phone, breakfast, events, serving together, e-mail, and have fun together.
31. Do things together: dinners, trips (Getty, Reagan Library, Midway, etc.), Seder dinners, Valentine dinners, potlucks, movies, serve your small group day to meet a member's need.
32. Pray for each other and interact socially.
33. Share a lot and have social times.
34. Support a family during a time of need (example: October fires), collect presents. Take meals for illness or new baby; be flexible to growth and change, realizing you get out of it what you put into it.
35. Potlucks, prayer time, sharing life experiences and struggles, social nights, sharing the bond of kids and grandkids.
36. Community projects, dinner groups, yard work, helping each other with car repairs, house projects, game nights, hiking, lunch, camping, day trips, mission trips, conferences, Men's only and Women's only group activities, step out of your comfort zone and make time to meet with members on another night.
37. Family meals, prayer time and deep sharing; service projects, delegating tasks to each person's talents, celebrating achievements, grieving together.
38. Meals together, do things outside the group together, service projects
39. Anything that brings us together, breakfast on Sundays, dinners, snacks after meetings, lots of phone calls, there for each other at memorials, going to the gym.
40. Travel together, potluck, meals during illnesses, Christmas gatherings, help each other with projects.
41. Get together with other groups.
42. Potlucks, visiting other churches together (We've been to Hillside Church in Julian. - Scott).
43. More potlucks.
44. Sit around a table so everyone can see each other do something fun together, pool parties, social events, game nights, "field trips", BBQ's or other food events, Christmas caroling, etc.
45. To have the men get together, not always the women; it takes them more time to create "family". All have to invest themselves.
46. Share praises, keep prayer journals, commit to be there physically and spiritually for each other; understand/trust each other with life's challenges.
47. Family affairs, like a picnic, or "take our daughters" to lunch.
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